Twist exerciser

ABSTRACT

A twist exerciser to be operated by a user standing thereon to twist his or her waist and foot portions to move forwardly mainly includes a machine with a convex ridge portion disposed vertically on the machine and the two sides at the lower aspect extend outwardly to form two pedals; an eccentric detent wheel is disposed on the downward position of a machine head; a rear wheel is disposed at the rear aspect of the convex ridge portion and an auxiliary wheel is disposed on the outer side of the pedal for easily assisting the running and stably standing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1) Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a twist exerciser, moreespecially to an exerciser provided for the user to stand thereon andmove the waist and leg portions to twist the wheeled body for steeringoperation mainly comprises a machine disposed with a convex ridgeportion with low step pedals extending outwardly at the lower aspectthereof; furthermore, the outer sides of the pedal is disposed withopposite auxiliary wheels so as to achieve the objective of operating bybare hands and obtaining a steady center of gravity to facilitate theapplication by people of any age groups.

[0003] 2) Description of the Prior Art

[0004] Accordingly, most of the regular twist exercisers are operated byyoung children sitting thereon and steering by hands to make the wheelslinked below to move alternatively. However, for obtaining more excitingand difficult movement, now a stand-type twist exerciser is availablemany years after the launch of the sit-type twist exerciser. Thestand-type twist exerciser has a pedal disposed with a driving wheel andan idler respectively in the front and rear lower aspects to form aT-shaped rear lateral view. The position of the pedal located at theupper aspect of the wheels makes the center of gravity unsteady when theuser stands thereon. Furthermore, the design of having two wheelsdisposed front and back in a vertical direction is suitable only for thetrained professional people to operate but not for any age group. Theshortcomings of operating the stand-type twist exerciser include that atthe start, it is necessary to use a rod, such as a ski rod, forassisting the push movement; before the push movement, the user has tofind a best equilibrium point to stand thereon in two feet. Therefore, agreat obstacle exists even at the beginning step. In addition, duringthe moving procedure, the user has to move the ski rod away in order touse hands to freely handle and balance the operation; furthermore,before parking the twist exerciser, the user has to jump to leave theexerciser and that makes it dangerous and inconvenient to operate.

[0005] Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional twist exerciser mainlycomprises a wheeled body (8) with the rear upper aspect thereof formedas a planar pedal (81) and a driving wheel (82) disposed at the forwardlower aspect thereof; the driving wheel (82) is moveably jointed withthe wheeled body (8) via an axle (84) extending downwardly through arocker arm (85) to movably joint with a wheel body (86); an idler (83)is disposed at the rear lower aspect of the wheeled body (8). When inoperation, the user has to stand on the pedal. Since the design thereofonly uses the driving wheel (82) and the idler (83) to bear the wheeledbody (8), in a static state, the wheel body (8) has to completely liedown and that is not convenient for starting operation.

[0006]FIG. 2 shows that a T-shape forms between the wheel body (86) andthe pedal (81); the user needs to be very skilled to precisely stand onthe pedal (81) in a horizontal direction, otherwise, he or she mightfall off right away. Furthermore, the pedal (81) distances from theground surface in a certain height (H) which is higher than the circulartangent point on the wheel body (8) thereby making the center of gravitybecome too high; in addition, when pedaling, the user's ankles aresubjected to injury caused by the pedal (81) during a fall.

[0007] At the starting step, the structure requires the user not only tobe trained to conquer the difficulty of immediately stepping on thepedal (81) in balance, but also to use a rod object to push backwardlyto form kinetic energy for moving forwardly so as to achieve theobjective of assisting running. After obtaining the kinetic energy toproceed, the user has to throw the auxiliary rod object away in order tofreely operate and adjust balance by hands.

[0008] During the parking procedure, the user has to first make thewheeled body (8) in an idle state and then jump away from the wheeledbody (8); it is very difficult for people of any level group to operateand is extremely dangerous to the children.

[0009] In addition, the design thereof provides only the method ofmaking ground movement and the operation is monotonous.

[0010] Therefore, the present invention provides a twist exercisercomprising a convex ridge portion, a lowered pedal and auxiliary wheelsfor starting so as to achieve the objectives of operating by bare handsand reinforcing the structure of the wheeled body (8).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] The present invention improves the conventional twist exerciserby forming a convex ridge portion on the longitudinal line at the centerof the machine, extending two sides at the lower aspect outwardly andhorizontally to form pedals thereby lowering the center of gravity andinstalling a front and a rear auxiliary wheels to obtain a three-footedbearing area so as to achieve the primary objective of starting theexerciser by bare hands and getting off safely for parking.

[0012] Another objective of the present invention is to have bendablehold pads on two sides of the convex ridge portion disposed on themachine for holding or protecting the user's ankles so as to make figureperformance.

[0013] Yet another objective of the present invention is to makeauxiliary wheels detachment-free for more difficult application made bya conventional two-wheeled exerciser.

[0014] Still another objective of the present invention is to make arear wheel detachment-free and use an auxiliary wheel on the rear sideto touch the ground thereby building a three-point planar relationshipamong the two rear auxiliary wheels at the rear aspect and the forwarddetent wheel, or to use a wheeled body disposed with a longitudinalconvex ridge portion, pedals formed by two sides at the lower aspect andextending outwardly, a driving wheel disposed forwardly and capable ofdeflecting, a left and a right rear wheels disposed on the rear side ofthe wheeled body thereby expanding the location area of the center ofthe gravity through the left and right rear wheels and the pedalsdesigned to be lower to facilitate a stable stand operation so as toallow a static and stable standing position before starting theexerciser such that the primary learner can easily operate and drive theexerciser forwardly.

[0015] To enable a further understanding of the structural features andthe technical contents of the present invention, the brief descriptionof the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of thepreferred embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016]FIG. 1 is a pictorial and schematic drawing of a conventionaltwist exerciser.

[0017]FIG. 2 is a rear view drawing of applying the conventional twistexerciser.

[0018]FIG. 3 is a pictorial and schematic drawing of the presentinvention.

[0019]FIG. 4 is a bird's-eye view drawing of the relationship among allthe wheels of the present invention.

[0020]FIG. 5 is a lateral view drawing of the structure of the presentinvention.

[0021]FIG. 6 is a rear view drawing of the implementation of the presentinvention.

[0022]FIG. 7 is a rear view drawing of the present invention in thestate of operating an assistant run.

[0023]FIG. 8 is a pictorial and external view of the present invention.

[0024]FIG. 9 is a bird's-eye view drawing of the relative positions ofall the wheels of the present invention.

[0025]FIG. 10 is a lateral view drawing of the structural relationshipof the present invention.

[0026]FIG. 11 is a mechanical drawing of the operation and theapplication of the present invention.

[0027]FIG. 12 is the first mechanical drawing of the operation of thepresent invention.

[0028]FIG. 13 is the second mechanical drawing of the operation of thepresent invention.

[0029]FIG. 14 is the third mechanical drawing of the operation of thepresent invention.

[0030]FIG. 15 is a schematic drawing of the twist movement line of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0031] Referring to FIG. 3, the present invention of a twist exerciserallows a user to stand on and use a cooperative working force of a waistand a foot portions to make the machine (50) to twist and swing left andright as well as use the detent effect of an eccentric detent wheel (6)to construct a moving exerciser.

[0032] Mainly, the present invention comprises the machine (5) with theforward eccentric detent wheel (6) movably connected at the lower aspectand a rear wheel (7) disposed at the lower rear aspect; a convex ridgeportion (51) is formed at the center of the machine (5) in alongitudinal direction; the downward position of a machine head (50) isprovided for the movably locking the eccentric detent wheel (6); therear inner portion of the convex ridge portion (51) is provided forinserting the rear wheel (7); furthermore, the positions on two downwardsides of the convex ridge portion (51) extending horizontally andoutwardly to form pedals (52); a front and a rear auxiliary wheels (71,72) are respectively disposed on two outer sides of the pedal (52).

[0033] Referring to FIG. 4, the eccentric detent wheel (6) is disposeddownwardly on the machine (5) and the rear wheel (7) is disposed at therear aspect thereof; the two outer sides of the pedal (52) arerespectively disposed with a front and a rear auxiliary wheels (71, 72)arranged in a straight line parallel to the longitudinal line of themachine (5).

[0034] Referring to FIG. 5, not only the two auxiliary wheels (71, 72),as shown in FIG. 4, are parallel to the longitudinal line of the machine(5), a straight line (L1) formed by their two circular tangent points atthe lower ends is also parallel to the ground surface. The position ofthe machine head (50) is disposed with an axle hole (53) for insertingand movably joining with an axle body (61) disposed on the eccentricdetent wheel (6); the eccentric detent wheel (6) has an eccentric rockerarm (62) to join rearwards with a wheel (63); based on the wheel (63)and the longitudinal line of the axle body (61), the eccentric detentwheel (6) makes deflective rotations; most part of the rear wheel (7)inserts into the inner portion of the convex ridge portion (51) disposedon the machine (5); the position of the axle center of the rear wheel(7) is higher than the pedal (52) thereby obtaining the height for thecenter of gravity to steadily fall.

[0035]FIG. 6 show the rear lateral view of the structure of the presentinvention; as indicated, the rear wheel (7) is disposed in the innerportion of the convex ridge portion (5) of the machine (5); the left andright sides at the lower aspect of the convex ridge portion (51) extendoutwardly to from pedals (52); the lateral lower aspects of the pedals(52) are disposed with auxiliary wheels (71, 72); the relative positionbetween the straight line, formed by the circular tangent points at thelower ends of the auxiliary wheels (71, 72) and the rear wheel (7), andthe ground surface defines an opening angle (θ); that means, when thewheeled body is in a horizontal and stable condition, the auxiliarywheels (71, 72) disposed respectively on two side are suspending abovethe ground surface and only the rear wheel (7) touches the ground.

[0036] The axis of the auxiliary wheels (71, 72) is different from thatof the rear wheel (7) such that when the auxiliary wheels (71, 72) touchthe ground, the axis thereof is parallel to the ground surface.

[0037] Referring to FIG. 7, when the machine (5) is slanted, the axis ofthe auxiliary wheels (71, 72) is parallel to the ground surface; asindicated, before sliding operation, the user has to use assistantrunning method to obtain resisting force of a static friction; theassistant running method involves using one foot to step on one of thepedals (52); a triangular area (A) is formed among the auxiliary wheels(71, 72) and the rear wheel (7) for the foot to step on and bear thecenter of gravity to make the machine (5) touch the ground in a slanteddirection. Cooperated with the pushing from the user's other foot, themachine (5) moves forwardly. Of course, the eccentric detent wheel (6)might touches the ground during the procedure, however, in principle,the function of the eccentric detent wheel (6) is eliminated in theassistant running; after the entire machine (5) is pushed to move, theother foot steps on the other pedal (52) and stands thereon through thekinetic energy of the wheeled body to achieve the forward assistantrunning to facilitate twist operation.

[0038] Basically, the twist and move operation utilizes the eccentricdesign of the eccentric detent wheel (6), as shown in FIG. 5; theeccentric rocker arm (62) thereon defines a width distance (D) at therelative position between the wheel (63) and the axle body (61); whenthe machine (5) swings left and right, the distance (D) links the axlebody (61) to make arcuate traction. A certain length exists between thelongitudinal line of the axle body (63) and the eccentric rocker arm(62) to make the wheel (63) deflect; during the deflection procedure,the difference of the friction coefficient and the changes of thedistance of the eccentric rocker arm (62) turning toward the centralpoint cause the wheeled body to generate a reverse function therebylinking the machine (5) to move forward; that is of a traditional designand will not be described.

[0039] Referring to FIG. 3, the longitudinal convex ridge portion (51)formed on the machine (5) not only lowers the height of the pedals (52),but is also able to extend the distribution area of the mechanicalstrength through the curve line structure if it is made of plasticmaterial so as to strengthen the mechanically structural force.

[0040] The convex ridge portion (51) located between the standing pointsof the operator's ankles is held thereby; soft and bendable hold pads(4) disposed thereon are capable of not only protecting the ankles, butalso being held by the operator's ankles for lifting up the machine (5)to make a half turn in the air, a reverse turn at 180 degree or abackward twist after the reverse turn.

[0041] During the twist and backward operation, the eccentric detentwheel (6) is movably jointed to the machine head (50) via an axle post(61); the eccentric detent wheel (6) is disposed with an eccentricrocker arm (62) capable of freely rotating at 360 degree opposite thewheeled body so as to twist toward any direction as long as within apermitted application scope.

[0042] Therefore, the present invention is not only capable of makingforward movement, but also of achieving the twist and backward figureoperation; during the twist and backward procedure, the convex ridgeportion (51) assists the holding operation to convenience the presentinvention in making multiple extensive operations; furthermore, thetwist and backward application is applicable when the machine (5) is ina static state.

[0043] Referring to FIG. 4, the rear wheel (7) of the present inventionis detachable such that the two auxiliary wheels (71, 72) and the detentwheel (6) form a triangle to facilitate the operator to stand on in astatic state thereby eliminating the assistant running operation andsuitable for people of any level group to operate easily.

[0044] Another embodiment of the present invention is to selectivelydetach or eliminate the auxiliary wheels (71, 72) for assembling four,three or two wheels in order to train the user to have advanced skillsto control more difficult operations. Or, as indicated in FIG. 8, awheeled body (1) is disposed with a longitudinal convex ridge (14); twosides extend outwardly from the inner portions of the convex ridge (14)to form pedals (11); a driving wheel (2) is disposed at the forwardlower position thereof; the rear sides of the wheeled body (1) aredisposed with a left and a right rear wheels (3); bendable hold pads(15) are installed on the convex ridge (14) to form a hold portion (10)for the user's feet to hold and operate.

[0045] Referring to FIG. 9, a rear left wheel (31) and a rear rightwheel (32) are disposed rearwards on the wheeled body (1) of the presentinvention; two sides of the wheeled body (1) form pedals (1) and theforward lower aspect thereof is disposed with an eccentric driving wheel(2).

[0046] Referring to FIG. 10, the rear lower aspect of the wheeled body(1) is disposed with a rear wheel (3); the pedal (11) locates adjacentto the chassis position; an axel hole (12) is disposed at a forwardposition for installing the driving wheel (2); through an axel post(23), the driving wheel (2) downwardly and eccentrically couples with arocker arm (22) and further movably joins with a wheel body (21) at thedistal end of the rocker arm (22); the center of the wheel body (21)opposite the central line position of the axel post (23) forms aneccentric distance (D); therefore, the axel post (23) inserts throughthe axel hole (12); at the upper aspect, a lock member (24), oppositethe axel post (23), movably fastens the driving wheel (2); furthermore,a driving idol (13) is fixed on the top end of the axel post (2) and tobe driven by the turning axel post (23) to turn left or right, clockwiseor anticlockwise, thereby driving the face portion of the driving idol(13) to deflect left or right in imitating the actual expression of areal driver turning left and right to examine.

[0047] The driving principles of the present invention are indicatedfrom FIGS. 11 to 15. The bird's-eye view of FIG. 11 shows therelationship among the wheels (31, 32, 21) and the wheeled body (1); therear left wheel (31) and the rear right wheel (32) are respectivelydisposed on the two rear sides of the wheeled body (1); the drivingwheel (2) is disposed forwardly and coupled to the axel post (23) viathe rocker arm (22). The center of the axel post (23) and the axelcenter of the wheeled body (21) form an eccentric distance (D) to allowthe standing user's center of gravity to fall on the triangular areadefined by two rear wheels (31, 32) and the driving wheel (2);therefore, when the wheeled body (1) is in a static state, the user canstand steadily on the wheeled body (1).

[0048] Referring to FIG. 12, the convex ridge (14) on the wheeled body(1) forms the hold portion (10); after stepping on the pedals (11), theuser uses the pressure of downward stepping or the toes to hold andpress the hold portion (10) thereby controlling the deflecting movementof the wheeled body (1).

[0049] Referring to FIG. 13, the principle of driving the wheeled body(1) is to use the rear left wheel (31) as the center of a circle duringthe left deflecting operation such that the rear right wheel (32) isdriven by the wheeled body (1) to displace in an upward traction;furthermore, the wheel body (21) slants in transverse direction due tothe link of the rocker arm (22) between the wheel body (21) and the axelpost (23).

[0050] Referring to FIG. 14, when the wheeled body (1) tractsrightwards, a reverser movement occurs between the wheeled body (21) andthe axel post (23) to alternatively make the rear right wheel (32) thecenter of a circle thereby displacing the rear left wheel (31) upwardly.When the wheeled body (1) turns, the central position between the rockerarm (220 and the wheeled body (21) forms a dynamic force pushingrearwards to not only make the entire wheeled body (1) alternativelymove forwardly as the rear wheels (31, 32), but also form a push andpress force, via the relationship between the rocker arm (22) oppositethe driving wheel (2) and relative to the axel post (23) of the wheeledbody (1), to move the point position of the axel post (23) forwardly soas to achieve the objective of driving the exerciser forwardly.

[0051]FIG. 15 shows the operation movement line of the wheeled body (1)moving forwardly; the relative distance between the rear left wheel (31)and the right left wheel (32) is indicated as R; when the rear leftwheel (31) displaces forwardly, the rear right wheel (32) works as thecenter of a circle and the distance (R) as the radius to displaceupwardly; therefore, the distance (R) forms radius (R1, R2, etc.) tomake the rear left wheel (31) and the rear right wheel (32)alternatively move forwardly thereby forming a distance of a movinglength (L) and that is the travel distance of the wheeled body (1).

[0052] Referring again to FIG. 8, two bendable hold pads (15) aredisposed on the sides of the convex ridge (14) of the wheeled body (1)to form the hold portion (10); the hold portion (10) is a bendable bodyfor protecting the user's ankles and to be held by two ankles;therefore, when the sliding speed reaches a certain point, the user'stwo feet clamp the hold portion (10) and jump to carry the wheeled body(1) into the air to achieve a bounce movement, any figure operation ofbouncing and turning or any holding operation of bouncing and turningfor sliding on an U-shaped stair in a field to facilitate figureperformance.

[0053] In addition, the convex ridge (14) reinforces the mechanicalstrength of the longitudinal side of the entire wheeled body (1) and ismade of plastic material convenient for application and molding.

[0054] Therefore, the design of the present invention particularly makesthe center of the gravity lower and steady to allow any primary learnerto easily stand on the wheeled body (1) when the exerciser is in aparked state and to allow the user to merely twist the waist and the legportions to achieve the objective of driving the wheeled body (1) tomove forwardly. The suitable age group for operating the presentinvention ranges from young children to adults.

[0055] It is of course to be understood that the embodiment describedherein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention andthat a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by personsskilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as set forth in the following claims.

1. A twist exerciser provided for the user to stand on and twist his orher waist and foot portions to make a machine swing in deflection formoving forwardly or steering operation mainly comprises the machine witha convex ridge portion formed in the longitudinal direction on themachine and an eccentric detent wheel disposed at the lower aspect of aforward machine head; two sides on the lower ends of the convex ridgeportion extend outwardly and respectively to form pedals; a front and arear auxiliary wheels are disposed on the outer sides of the pedals; thearrangement of the two auxiliary wheels in a straight line is parallelto the longitudinal line of the machine; the lateral arrangement of thetwo auxiliary wheels is parallel to the ground surface; a rear wheel isdisposed at the rear lower aspect of the convex ridge portion and themost part of the rear wheel is inserted into the inner portion of theconvex ridge portion; when the machine is in horizontal condition, theauxiliary wheels on two sides are suspending in the air.
 2. The twistexerciser according to claim 1, wherein a bendable hold pad is disposedrespectively on two sides of the convex ridge portion.
 3. The twistexerciser according to claim 1, wherein the disposition of the front andthe rear auxiliary wheels is optional.
 4. The twist exerciser accordingto claim 1, wherein the disposition of the rear wheel is optional.
 5. Agame exerciser for standing and twisting, more especially a gameexerciser providing the user to stand thereon and twist the waistportion to cooperate with the foot operation so as to make a wheeledbody deflect and move forwardly, mainly comprises the wheeled body witha convex ridge formed longitudinally on the wheeled body; two sides ofthe convex ridge, adjacent to the chassis position, extend outwardly toform pedals; a driving wheel with a rocker arm is movably and forwardlydisposed at the lower aspect of the wheeled body and the two rear sidesthereof are disposed with a rear left wheel and a rear right wheel asthe main features.
 6. The game exerciser for standing and twistingaccording to claim 5, wherein the top end of an axel post of therelative driving wheel disposed forwardly on the wheeled body links witha driving idol via the axel post.
 7. The game exerciser for standing andtwisting according to claim 5, wherein the two sides of the convex ridgeare disposed with hold pads.